


A Night

by Lyssa2412



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: (or that's what I thought it should be), Alternate Universe - Human, I am still very confused with the tagging things here I'm so very sorry, I spent 3 days straight translating the first part from Vietnamese I hope this is worth it, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slice of Life, Sparkling has a very concerning low sense of self-worth, and Vampire is um. kind, but that's not really important in this work, however he is still an alcoholic, including Vampire whose name is an irony, so basically all of them are humans alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-28 03:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17780090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyssa2412/pseuds/Lyssa2412
Summary: What would you do when your friend drank too much he couldn't go back home by himself? ;)





	1. 12:00 AM

**Author's Note:**

> I am. Tired.  
> I decided to translate this two-part fanfic of mine into English thinking it would be fun, also it's because I wrote a fuck load of oneshots for these two and I noticed there's not enough fanfic of them on this site. Keep in mind this is a translation and I'm quite ashamed of my English lately so there will be a lot of flaws. (Yes, I meant what I said by "a fuck load" okay, not mentioning the ideas that kept coming up and up and up and-)  
> Well, if I have enough patience and time, I'd translate them all. They all have connection too, as I kept referencing old works and they're in the same AU, the same timeline.   
> First, I'll just translate this, because it has the least amount of reference of my older works.  
> I'll stop rambling now, I hope you enjoy the first part, random reader <3

It was night then, it was so,  _so_  really late at night. The street was deserted, only were there some lights glinting and staring at a lonely taxi that was still running, wondering why someone would be so hurry to go somewhere instead of sleeping at this time. But maybe they just wanted to return home for some good naps, didn't they? After all, wasn't it everyone's desire to take a rest after a long, exhausting working day?

The blond man looked out of the window, thinking to himself. Some  _sleeping beauty_  leaned onto his shoulder, long red hair was all tangled. He reached out his hand, intended to fix the other man's hair, but stopped at second thought. He only dared to silently look at his friend and try hard not to budge, that was all he can do right now. What if Vampire woke up?

"Why did your brother drink that much?" The taxi driver asked in such an irritated voice that his question sounded more like a complaint. It was understandable, anyway: he could have been at home sleeping had someone not begged him to drive them home at the worst time of the day. He had to be really sleepy, that was for sure. The bartender smiled, trying to be as apologetic as he can, he replied:

"I don't really know, I guess he had something on his mind."

Oh, see that? Such an apparent  _lie._ But who would care about sincerity when their only desire was to finish their job and return home peacefully? On his part, he was also too familiar with lies told for no other reason than making the conversation more comfortable. If he had been the driver, he would not want his passenger to tell a whole novel of his friend,  _not his brother,_ and why hewas drunk almost  _every fucking night._ Nobody would want to listen to the list of reasons that made the drunk man the loveliest person in the world. Stuffs so private like that should be kept to yourself.

"Whatever, you still shouldn't depend too much on alcohol. It's unhealthy."

"I understand, I'll remind him."

The driver didn't say anything after having heard Sparkling's reply. Good, he didn't want the miserable man to be more distracted than he already was with sleepiness. Deep green eyes glanced at the street again, then at the dark, dark sky. However, in the pitch black darkness, a violet gleam flickered. Was it real or just a hallucination, the passenger did not know, but it reminded him of somebody's eyes. His cheeks flushed red, he unconsciously let his hand covered his face. The person next to him seemed to be uneasy because of that, the man muttered something, then turned to him.

"I'm here." Sparkling stroked the other man's head, murmured, first time noticing how his hair was so soft. He didn't stay still, though, so the blonde had to hold his hand and whisper into his ear. "Vamp, calm down, I'm with you,  _dear_."

The red-haired man buried his head in the barman's chest, this time, he actually  _did_ calm down. It was much better now, although holding his hand and being so close to him really,  _really_ made this heart pounded aloud. When he slept, he was just like a little child, innocent, carefree, no worries, no bad thoughts. Damn, the blonde couldn't be more happy, those lips couldn't hide a subtle smile, although the one besides him didn't know a thing. Well, it was better off that way, because if he  _did_ know... He only thought of Sparkling as a friend, didn't he? Vampire would be so very surprised, he would reject him immediately. But this moment with that certain someone was so peaceful and warm, no lies would ever erase that fact.

If it weren't because he had been so afraid to let his work be done by another person tomorrow morning, this moment wouldn't be real, this warmth wouldn't be with him, right? Sparkling giggled: sometimes, life really can be  _wonderful._ Normally, his only colleague would never work in the morning.

He did not know how and why he made such a decision: instead of calling Alchemist to ask her to pick up her brother, the blonde wanted his friend to rest at his place. Telling himself that would be the safer option which wouldn't affect anybody's sleep, he led the redhead outside, call a cab to take both of them home. After that, they were here, inside of this car: one man sleeping, the other staring indefinitely at the sky, sometimes he had to answer the grumpy driver: the old man must have lots of complaints to make.

"You two are close, I'd say?"

_How convenient._

"We're not that close..." He stuttered, but tried to make the sentence less awkward. "But I care about him. That's what brothers do, right?"

The taxi driver let out a seemingly cheerful laughter, he turned the steering wheel to the right.

"That's good. Hmph, if only my siblings were like you two, things could be a lot better."

"Life's different for everyone, we're not any luckier than you."

"I know, it's just..."

The old man grasped the wheel, sighing. It was unnecessary for Sparkling to hear the whole sentence to figure out how much of a difficult time the driver was having. But everyone had to suffer that at some point, because things wouldn't always go smoothly. Life could never be completely according to plan.

"Please stop at that white building on the left."

"Alright."

His voice didn't sound as grumpy as before, it was more melancholic and distant. When the car stopped, the blond man had to let go of his friend's hand. The one who felt deeply asleep didn't have any word of disapproval, so paying the taxi's fare and leading him out again was easier than expected.

"Have a good day." Sparkling turned around to say so, smiling as a way to thank him. The driver nodded, he was going to reply something as well, but maybe because of how late it was, he just kept silent and drove away.

_Well, that was one thing._

Now the blonde had to bring his friend to the second floor. If it had been like the other days, he would not have thought much: he only had to go up the stairs to finally get home. But it was different now that he got this redhead going with him. He couldn't just force the guy to walk while sleeping. The elevator wasn't available at the moment either.

Sparkling let him sit on the starting step, his back leaning against the wall, the bartender bent down to carry Vampire on his back. Well, his friend wasn't that heavy after all. Of course, it would be easy for him to just stand still like this, the real problem here was going up. Gripping the handrail, he went upwards, step by step, hoping the sleeping one wouldn't wake up until they finally got to their destination. What could go wrong if he actually did, though? He could just yawn, look around, then wonder aloud where they were and why they were walking on such a  _narrow_ staircase.  _It's not that narrow, you know,_ the blonde would reply,  _stay still, or you'll fall down._

The more he thought, the more he realized how easy it was for that someone to  _actually_ fall down...

However, when they arrived at room 207, those thoughts still remained thoughts, as the  _sleeping beauty_ showed no sign of waking up. While unlocking the door, Sparkling whispered, wanted his friend to listen, but also didn't want him to do so:

"Vamp, won't you please wake up? How deeply asleep are you?"

He must have not heard a thing. That would be okay. Sparkling sighed, turned on the lights and carried him in, gently tucked him into bed and fixed his hair. Would Vampire be uncomfortable sleeping at a strange place? Well, he was already sleeping soundly anyway. The friend laughed at his own sudden mindlessness, reaching his hand to stroke the redhead's cheeks, the other, habitually, untied his bow and undid some of the buttons on his white shirt.

Then, at that exact moment, he froze.

_Why is this so familiar?_

If he had wanted to remind himself of a long lost time, then goddamn, Sparkling would not do this, he would not sit next to this bed, bend over to look at the sleeper, he would have resisted the urge to touch that face. Moreover, he only brought the man home because of his  _kindness_ as a friend. Well, wasn't that fucking odd? _Kindness._ The one thing he would never admit that he had. Sparkling would never be that  _kind._ He only chose to let the drunk friend stay the night because that was the safest option he could come up with.

Safe, but for whom? For the bartender himself, or for the one lying on that bed?

_To someone so selfish, the answer is in fact too simple._

He liked looking at Vampire sleeping. This was a truth he would not dare let anyone know. It sounded funny, firstly, and it sounded shady as hell. However, he just simply liked looking at the other man closing his eyes and falling asleep. Rarely was there such a heavy sleeper, one could say that he didn’t have anything to do with this life. Even the most carefree person Sparkling knew would still toss and turn at night, scared to death of the nightmare only they could see.

_How about you, then, how are your dreams? They must be full of happiness, aren’t they?_

Sparkling was so envious, yet so happy. The sleeper deserved it, after all. It would be heartbreaking for someone who put his heart on the sleeves like him not to have his good deeds paid off. He was kind, _too_ kind, that whenever this bartender thought that there could also be bad times for his friend, his heart felt like it was broken. He just wanted a smile to appear on that face, that was all he ever wanted. As long as Vampire was happy. If only he was happy, this heart could be so relieved.

As long as he was happy, Sparkling would be, too, no matter how much pain that happiness would cause.

When the other man frowned, Sparkling quickly stood up, turned off the lights near his bed and turned on those in the kitchen. Eating at night wasn’t good, somebody once told him so, besides, there was nothing edible in his fridge anymore. He was not hungry, either. But his feet still unconsciously walked there, almost like he was hiding. God, that particular person wouldn’t mind him being near, right? Thinking so, he picked up a book from the shelves without reading its cover. Those eyes just couldn’t stop looking at the one sleeping over there.

He bit his lower lip and turned away, bringing the book with him to the dining table. Sparkling couldn’t read even a word, he kept distracting himself looking at his own hand, the dirty wall, the fridge that had been empty for days. Almost like he was avoiding. It would be alright, he had thought so, yet…

It was midnight then. At least that would be the case if the clock were still accurate.

He’d better take a nap, that was what he thought when he closed the book. Looking back at someone for the last time, he finally calmed himself down enough to sleep.


	2. 3:00 AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And what would you do then, if you woke up and realized you had been sleeping in your friend's for the last three hours?

When Vampire opened his eyes, he was already in a strange room. The room was neither messy nor tidy, it looked like a place someone had lived in before but also looked like it belonged to an abandoned house that, from time to time, people might stop over for a while. The light from afar flickered several times, everything was almost dark and bleary.

It was 3 AM, according to the clock on the wall.

Where could this be? A few moments ago, he remembered he was still in the bar, but after a couple blinks, everything changed. Not until the alcoholic glanced at the place that seemed like a kitchen did he realize there was someone sleeping by the table. The blond hair of his, Vampire would never mistake with anyone else's, and that figure, no matter in whatever crowd he stood, the redhead would immediately recognize. But why was he sleeping there? There was a bed, just right...

Oh, that was the bed Vampire had been sleeping in.

Feeling quite sorry, he was going to stand up, but got distracted by things placed next to the footboard, including a very familiar bag. Wasn't that the bag he gave the bartender on the second time they met? Vampire took a look at it, the cookie box was still inside, along with that piece of paper he wrote. This gave him some mixed feeling: his friend kept the gift, yet never touched it, even once. It was still new...

So this must be Sparkling's home.

But how could he call this  _home?_ If he actually did call it home, then Vampire would find it very saddening. This room wasn't worthy of him. The redhead always thought his friend would belong to a dazzling scenery, if not to be described as cozy and warm. No, no, that scenery absolutely couldn't be this cold and unsettled place. In the cramped room, everything suddenly became so large, and the person sitting over there just seemed too lonely to fit in. Now that Vampire could somehow understand the constant sad and forced smile he often saw on the other person's face, he felt like he needed to do something.

But what would be the necessary thing to do, though?

He opened the fridge and got surprised finding nothing inside. Glancing at the man who was resting his head on the table, Vampire felt uncommonly concerned, so he took the box from the bag, planning to give it to the other man when he woke up. However, the box seemed to be empty, so he must have finished it already. That made more sense: the cookies would all be spoiled if he had not eaten them.

"Don't."

"I didn't mean to."

Thinking his friend had woken up, the redhead replied. But it wasn't the case, as the bartender just said so because of his bad dream, the man's shoulders tensed up, shaking. The alcoholic friend came closer, putting his hand on that shoulder, though the shaking did not show any sign of remission.

"Sparkling, what's wrong?"

Nobody could ever answer when they slept. The only thing for sure was what he saw seemed to be horrible and he shouldn't suffer from something like that alone. But wasn't that the problem with dreams? Everyone could be nothing but  _alone_  in their own dream, though they wanted it or not. It would be alright if that was a sweet one, but thinking about him having to confront a horrendous nightmare by himself, Vampire didn't have the heart to walk away from him, even just one step.

Reaching out his arms to hug the other person tight,  _so_  tight, someone asked himself,  _why does my Sparkling have to endure this?_

Well, that person never was  _his,_ but in a place where there were only the two of them, or to be exact, only him, would it be too much for Vampire to try to comfort himself?

Moreover, he wanted to be the person who could make the blonde feel  _safe_.

_Sleeping while sitting isn't healthy_ , he reasoned to himself and carried the other man to bed. Only then did the blonde stay still, on his lips was a vague smile.  _The nightmare must be over by now,_ Vampire concluded as he was going to leave, but the sleeper wrapped his arm around the redhead's body all of a sudden, mouth muttering:

"Don't go away."

Somehow, that sentence made his heart flutter. Instead of letting go, he pulled his friend in closer, running his fingers through the blond hair, whispering:

"I won't go anywhere, don't worry."

That person smiled again, making him think the bartender might have heard him talking. He wanted to talk so, so much more, so that he could admire that smile all night. But Sparkling was still asleep, right? What if something really wonderful just appeared in that dream, just in time with his sentence? That would be good, though, good for his friend and good for him, because he really loved this smile, how heartfelt and happy it was. Even if the person in that dream wasn't him, it would still be alright...

_Even if the person in that dream wasn't him._

His heart sank, he wanted to focus on the man lying next to him, but he couldn't, he didn't have the nerve. Had Sparkling ever been  _his,_ though? No matter how much he wished, no matter how bitter he felt looking at him talking to other people, the truth would remain the truth. Truths wouldn't change just because they had hurt someone. But he just wanted to make that person happy, just wanted to make his life complete, just wanted to see that smile every day and every night, just wanted to hold him tight in these arms and sleep like this, just wanted him to think about the alcoholic beside him, and just this pathetic, lazy alcoholic, no one else. Was it too selfish? He just wanted Sparkling to be his own. Was it  _too_  selfish?

_"Everyone is selfish, no exception."_

He couldn't recall when and why Sparkling made that statement. However, recognizing such certainty in his tone, Vampire remembered replying almost instantly, that  _it isn't true for everybody, some are good and care about others._ The bartender shook his head and let out a humorless laugh, telling him how lucky he was for having met nice people and how  _the_   _people whom I thought are the sincerest to me actually only care about themselves._

He remembered the words that had stuck on this tongue. He remembered them so clearly.

_Then let me care for you instead, would that be alright, darling?_

He didn't have the courage to say so at that moment. It wasn't the first time he hesitated to do such a small thing, nor the first time this happened in front of that special someone. But it was the first time his heart pounded so hard. Time went by slowly, yet he wasn't able to think of anything. It was the first time he ever felt so helpless. So close, yet so far.

The person next to him suddenly hug him tighter, which surprised him a bit.

"Sparkling?"

The said person buried his head into Vampire’s chest, murmured something inaudible. It wouldn’t matter anymore, because when people _dreamed_ , hardly anything they did was for this reality. He held the other man tight, caressing his blond hair, and trying to restrain himself from kissing the sleeper.

That night was an unexpectedly long one.

And sleeping had never been that hard.

\---

When he opened his eyes again, someone was already awake, standing near the door and about to go out. Vampire sat up, his friend glanced at him, then turned away.

"Did you sleep well?"

"I’m fine, how about you?"

Those shoulders slightly trembled.

“It was the first time I had such a good nap.”

He stood up to get closer, but didn’t on second thought. Sparkling didn’t notice that, he continued talking:

"If I have done anything to you while sleeping, I hope you can forgive me. I... I don't remember sharing a bed with you, but..."

"I brought you there."

Sparkling suddenly turned around, green eyes confusedly stared at him, then quickly looked away. He was also confused, and all he could do was asking a stupid question:

“What did you dream about yesterday?”

“Just some old stuffs.”

“Ah, I understand.” The redhead smiled evasively, trying not to be too nosy. It seemed like the friend could understand what he meant, as the blonde added.

“I saw my mother.”

So that was the case…

_Yet it made him tossed and turned all night long._

“If you don’t mind, I’ll go buy something to make breakfast for us.” Sparkling turned the door knob. “But if you need to go…”

“Oh, right, I’ve got to take Alchemist to school.” He lied. In fact, her first class had begun already, but that wasn’t the point. He was suddenly too embarrassed to even think about staying here, that was the reason he said such a thing.

“It’s already five to eight, but it’s okay, just go.”

Someone felt his cheek getting hotter and hotter, he didn’t think the other person could guess that he was lying. However, he still rushed outside when Sparkling opened the door, walked downstairs in such regret he would never be able to describe.

And it was too late to turn around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks yall for having read this now imma go to bed for a nap too  
> Good day <3


End file.
